Peter Brock: 10 years after losing a legend

Friends and foes reflect on the King of the Mountain, a decade since his tragic death.

Peter Brock: 10 years after losing a legend

08 Sep 2016Peter McKay

It is 10 years since the remarkable, all-action and headline-making life of Peter Brock ended tragically when the car he was driving slammed into a tree during an inconsequential fun road rally in Western Australia on September 8, 2006. He was 61.

It was a surreal, almost anti-climactic exit for a charismatic driver who'd raced professionally at some of the world's toughest racing circuits – Le Mans, Mount Panorama, Macau, Spa – without a scratch.

A decade has passed and yet Brock's stirring track deeds, his engaging personality and the memories are as powerfully vivid as ever. For fans and collectors, Brock – even in death - is the gift that keeps on giving…

The grieving hasn't stopped.

He was a legendary figure in motor sport, a household name outside it. All of his achievements are impossible to list. Here are some: nine Bathurst 1000 victories, nine Sandown 500 successes, a win in the 1979 Repco Trial, and three Australian touring car titles. Adored by so many, Brock may have inspired the tag "fan-friendly". Off track he worked unceasingly on road safety projects, adopting the 05 race number to highlight the 0.05 blood alcohol limit in Victoria.

He was known as Peter Perfect, an identifier often used by doting, star-struck fans. Some annoyed rivals also employed the epithet disparaging, because Brock's image and reputation with his constituency was largely untarnished despite early claims of spousal abuse (vigorously brushed aside by Bev Brock) and the furore over his pseudo-scientific energy polarizer device which brought on the split with Holden.

He also raced BMWs and Fords and his road-car operation even imported and modified cheap and sluggish Soviet-made Ladas without alienating his rusted-on Holden tribe.

Brock has been eulogised by many, mocked by a few and forgotten by no-one.

A telemovie simply called Brock is soon for release. Collectors fight over his cars – road and race – and pay fortunes for ownership. This year's Bathurst 1000 will (again) celebrate the life of Peter Brock.

Peter Brock was one of Australia's most loved racing identities. Photo: Supplied

He remains, 10 years after that awful day in the west, the best-known hero of local motor sport.

Here, people close to Brock reflect on the man and the driver:

Alan Gow - former Brock race team manager and now boss of the British touring car championship

"There were no half measures with Brock. It was full-on or not interested. Things were black and white - just like the colours of his beloved Collingwood. You were friend or foe; it was good or bad, or right or wrong. There was no real middle ground or compromise that sat happily with him. But if he didn't know about something or was not interested, then he would almost totally abdicate responsibility for it to others. Some may see that as a weakness; I saw that as his strength. He knew where his passion and his talents lay, and where they didn't. He didn't pretend to know and left it to those that did. And that's the mark of a man that knew himself well."

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"I had a lot of respect for Brock as a driver, though he was fortunate to get the big break early with a factory drive. Driving against him was always a challenge but you knew it would be a fair fight. In the early days he was really good fun. Over the years, he became a very changed person from the regular bloke I first knew. There was all that polarizer nonsense. If he had a failing, he got to believe he was infallible. I never knew anyone who so strongly believed in himself, and always reckoned he was right."

"I was lucky enough to cover the majority of Peter's overseas races for the Seven Network at Monza, Spa, Le Mans and Wellington as well as every circuit stop in Australia and he was a good friend too. He was in over his head with the polarizer and you didn't need to be a clairvoyant to know GMH wanted no part of it. What followed were Peter's wasted years in BMWs and Sierras before calmer water prevailed and he returned to Holden. He was a man's man and a woman's friend. Loyal as they come and blessed to have John Harvey as his wingman in business and on the track."

Tomas Mezera - Bathurst winner and Brock co driver

"When I got to drive with Brock at Bathurst he wasn't Peter Perfect any more. I didn't get to work with him at his best. He was an old man. He could still pull out a fast lap, but not 20 or 30 in a row. He wasn't fit enough. I drove with him three times, and he stuffed up three times. In 1994, we had the race shot. It would have been his 10th win there. All Brock had to do was keep it together for the run to the flag but he decided to push hard and crashed at the top. Ooh, I hope the Brock fans don't want to lynch me…"

Tim Pemberton, Brock's first full-time PR spinner and minder

"Quite apart from being a handy operator behind the wheel, PB was probably one of the first sportsmen in Australia to fully inject his personality into the media. He once appeared on The Don Lane Show and interviewed Don instead of the other way around, much to Lane's confusion. This was a typical Brock activity to enjoy the TV spotlight and a reason why he was so popular with the general public as well as the motorsport fraternity."

"Peter and I came through the ranks together. Our motivation was the racing, not the money. We shared a HDT Torana at Bathurst in 1970. And after that we were rivals in similar cars, but still friends. Peter was one of the first drivers to understand the power of PR. Still, he was always up for some fun after racing. He was a good bloke, a good racer and we had a lot of hard battles. He went off the rails for a few years but we stayed friends. I remember he asked me how come I walked away from motor racing. He said he could never do that. A couple of years later he was dead."

"As a driver, Peter ticked all the boxes – plenty of ability, made few mistakes and had great rapport with his fan base. I was fortunate in some ways to work with Peter. Together we won three Bathursts in a row and in my three-and-a-half years running the Holden Dealer Team he gave me a free hand to engineer the cars, which was my passion. We parted ways over his belief in the polarizer. We shook hands and moved on. I had some very good races against him after that."

Colin Bond - Holden teammate in the early years and touring car and rally champion.

"Brock and I were team-mates from 1969 when Harry Firth took over the Holden team for Bathurst. I won that year and Brock was third. He was a very good, natural driver and very focussed on what he wanted to achieve. I got the feeling nothing would get in his way. After a while, I noticed he was getting the good tyres and the latest updates. Then he tried to get the Marlboro money from Harry, and that ended in tears. The polariser thing was really weird. How could he believe a couple of magnets, resin and crystals would transform his cars? He staked his business life on it, and lost."

Craig Lowndes – Supercars hero and one-time protégé of Brock

"Heading to Bathurst, I'll be trying to keep my focus on what I have to do in the car. To be honest when I'm there I don't reflect on Peter any more. It won't change this year even though there is greater emphasis on Brock because it's the 10th anniversary of his death. We go there every year with the aim of holding-up the trophy awarded in his name."

Mick Hone – Brock's mate and navigator in the Daytona on that fateful Targa West rally

"The crash happened because of a combination of reasons and not just one cause. I certainly don't go with the idea that Peter was fatigued from the long flight from England to Melbourne, and then to Perth. He looked like a million dollars when he went to bed early on Thursday evening. On Friday, Peter was bright as a button. Suggestions that his reflexes were slow are crap. In the opening stage he was right on it. But the crash corner was a slippery, double apex, downhill with a dip in it, and this added up to an impossibility to get around it at that speed."